As part of Refugee Week 2011, the Cardiff Story museum is celebrating the contributions made by refugees and asylum seekers to the city. CLARE HUTCHINSON spoke to two recent refugees who have rebuilt their lives in Wales’ capital

ASK Antoine Azangisa why he left the Democratic Republic of Congo, and he remains tight-lipped.

When he was forced to flee the country for “political reasons” in 2005, the married father of six had to leave his entire family behind, and giving too many details about the circumstances might put them at risk.

Asked if he thought they were safe living in his home country, he shook his head.

“Anything can happen at any time, so to talk about safety… the only safety is here in the UK,” he said.

Antoine is just one of around 500 Congolese refugees in Cardiff alone, all with their own diverse stories about how they came to be living in Wales’ capital city.

In Antoine’s case, the translator, who is in his 40s, was “dispersed” from London to Kent and then Newport, before eventually coming to Cardiff in 2006.

“I like Cardiff very much,” he said.

“People are really lovely compared to London. They will greet you and say ‘hello’, rather than looking at you like you are crazy if you speak to them.”

Since he was granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK this year, Antoine has split his time between training to be a counsellor, working as a freelance translator and volunteering with the organisation he helps to run, the Congolese Community of Wales.

He said: “In Africa, if you want to raise your voice you have to shut up and if you don’t shut up they will make you.

“Here, I try my best to help people. Many others who come to the UK don’t understand English and certainly don’t understand how the system works.

“I have a good background of English, so I try to help people out. But I can’t do that unless I bring them together, which is why I work with the Congolese Community of Wales.

“If people have a problem now they know they can come to me.”

Unlike Antoine, Constance Nzeneu spoke no English when she came to the UK from Cameroon in 2005.

The mother of two fled the country because of a family feud, coming first to Liverpool and Manchester before moving to Cardiff, where she has remained ever since, setting up – among other projects – the Women Seeking Sanctuary Advocacy Group Wales.

The former law student, who spoke fluent French, learned English by taking on five different voluntary posts at the same time.

She said: “My first job on arriving was to make sure that I could speak the language as soon as possible.

“It is about having confidence and self esteem, but also being proactive.”

Constance’s enthusiasm and bubbly personality soon won her friends in the city, who were to become indispensable when the UK Border Agency turned down her application to remain in the country.

The refusal sparked months of protests at the Aneurin Bevan statue on Queen Street, and she was finally given indefinite leave to remain this year.

“It is because of the support of the people in Cardiff that I am here,” she said.

“If I could give any advice to people in a similar situation it would be make friends as soon as you can because these are the people who are going to support you.

“I once told someone my story and he said it had changed his mind about refugees and asylum seekers and I think if we could all do that for one person the community we all live in would be far more cohesive.